Reader Andy B has flagged up two less well-known untransmitted TV pilots on You Tube of interest to Anderson fans but completely unknown to me I'm afraid to say. The first is Paul Starr, a Stingrayesque TV show by ex - Anderson stalwarts Roberta Leigh and Arthur Provis. And yes, the voice of Paul Starr is Ed Bishop! Googling Paul Starr brought me to Shaqui's cool site on the series. The 'Toys' and 'Merchandise' sections are fascinating!
The second pilot is the live action Solarnauts also by Leigh and Provis. It stars a young Derek Fowlds of later Heartbeat fame. Again Shaqui's website provides excellent insights into the series.
What do you think of these shows?
It'll take me a while to decide what I think of these...but those are really the most Dalekian non-Daleks you could ever hope to see.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching those two pilots a few years ago at a Cult TV festival. Apparently they'd been long forgotten and re- discovered in Roberta Leigh's garage along with the Space Patrol series. Just in front watching with us was the late Dick Vosburgh, the voice of Larry Dart in Space Patrol. He had attended as a guest to celebrate the launch of the discovered items on video.
ReplyDeleteBoth pilots are among the extras on the Space Patrol DVD from Networkdvd.net for only £9.99. Very enjoyable watching them. Not up to Gerry Anderson standard, probably due to the budget(?), but Solarnauts in particular is great fun with a groovy catchy 60s theme tune. It reminds me of a British version of the 60s Irwin Allen shows - brightly coloured, cool music , lots of FX, not that great acting, but they look like they're enjoying themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love these, especially Solarnauts. It is just so essentially "Sixties"! Great music - Derek Fowlds is wonderful, despite not actually being the main hero (he ought to have been!) - and Martine Beswick, who was in my fav film of the Sixties!
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